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POLITICO 44

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid interrupted debate once to announce he was pulling the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill, essentially shuffling the schedule for the final days of the lame duck session.

Debate on START will continue Friday. A vote is not expected until early next week.

Democrats appear to be in range of the 67 votes necessary to ratify the treaty. In Wednesday’s test vote, nine Republicans crossed party lines to vote to move to executive session – a positive sign for Democrats seeking to ratify the treaty before the end of the lame duck session.

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry and his Democratic committee colleagues held press conferences throughout Thursday during which they accused Republicans of wasting floor time without offering any amendments. Meanwhile, Republican leaders, including Minority Whip Jon Kyl, persisted on the floor that the treaty is better off next Congress when the Senate is not in a rush through amendments and debate before lame duck session ends.

“There are things that can be done, but I think first and foremost, we need to ask ourselves; Is this a good thing for the country?” said Alabama Sen. Jeff Session. “I also want to know how it fits into our overall strategic policy. That’s my biggest concern.”

Proclaiming that “we’re ready to vote,” Kerry estimated that Republicans have between 15 to 20 amendments to offer to the treaty. However, he said any change to the preamble could prompt further negotiations with Russia.

“No, we will not take a change to the preamble – we can certainly have some understandings or declarations, but we will not change the preamble,” said Kerry. “If we did change it, then we’d have to go back, we’d wind up with months and months of renegotiation.”

But as of Thursday evening, Reid said only one amendment had been filed to the treaty.

“There’s been one amendment filed, and that amendment is to wipe out the treaty completely,” said Reid.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported the number of Republicans who supported a test-vote on the START Treaty. Nine Republicans crossed party lines. We regret the error.

The details of the treaty are irrelevant because it was part of a political deal.

Obama wants to title his next (3rd) autobiography My Audacious START, that international nuclear arms treaty over his signature (securing peace in our time) is a central part of his re-election strategy.

I even have an advance copy of the full-color fold-out cover for My Audacious START

If the Progressives want to put all their faith in Obama's ability to negotiate a Nuclear Proliferation Treaty with the Russians - they can go right ahead! But make no mistake - This new START Treaty is a Foreign Policy Disaster in the making!

So ROEg, if Hoplite is correct, Republicans agreed to "unilateral disarmament and increased the risk of our nuclear annihilation," just so they could continue all of the Bush tax cuts.

You might be overstating the effect of Obama's START treaty. But it is a good point. The answer is in the calculus that the treaty would hurt us less than the tax increases would hurt us...so make the deal. We will see if I am right. If Obama signs the tax cuts on Friday, he should get START ratified on Saturday.

That has to be the deal. Why else would Obama send Durbin out today saying that tax increases would hurt the economy? That contradicts every claim by every dem for the last decade. Obama wants that treaty. Peace in our time has always been a powerful slogan.

I get a picture in my mind of Obama standing on a street corner, with a sign, that reads...NO MORE NUKS! It's as if, the Dems and a few turncoat Repubs, are signing something, in good faith, instead of good sense. The United States has no business getting involved in treaties, unless those treaties are in our favor. This START treaty, is, I fear, not in our favor, but in Russia's favor, and Obama is going to make sure it is. I think the American People should use TRUST BUT VERIFY, in regards to this administration.

It has been reported that Congress has had this bill to look at for months. If that is true, and there are no major objections or amendments, then pass the damn thing. Obama did not negotiate this by himself, he had knowledgeable people with him. And trotting out all the experts who urged passage is good enough for me, since I know they don't want to die in a nuclear war any more than I do!

have the vote and end the drama. This is an extension of something that's out there already. To hold it up to force modernization which is permitted is nuts. Get it done. The modernization is an inside political game. This must be Kyl's last hurrah and wants to be part of the puke's slow down of all that is good for american people.